Nearly nine out of ten Android blowers sold in Britain are Samsung or HTC phones, according to the latest sales figures. Android accounts for half of smart phone sales, outpacing Apple -- while BlackBerry stubbornly refuses to go quietly.

Phones running Google's Android software still hold the number one position, with a 50.1 per cent share of the British smart phone market up from 44.6 per cent this time last year, new data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech shows. Of those Android phones, Samsung and HTC are the dominant force: between them, they account for 86 per cent of sales in the last three months.

The arrival of a big-name phone hasn't done anything to reverse Sony’s ailing fortunes. Despite ditching Ericsson and launching the Sony Xperia S, the Japanese giant still slid to 10.4 per cent of the Android market.

Things are even bleaker for LG, which is down to less than one per cent of Android sales.

Meanwhile, Windows Phones now has double the market share of Symbian, a drastic reversal from this time last year. Now at 3.3 per cent, Windows Phone is up from a meagre 0.8 per cent in 2011, while Symbian has plummeted from 10.7 per cent to 1.6 per cent. So while Nokia's cheaper Symbian phones are on the way out, the Finnish company's Windows-powered Lumia range is on the up.

And BlackBerry? Whether it's businesspeople or BBM-addicted yoofs, Britons are still buying BlackBerry. The market share has dropped but more than one in ten phones sold are BlackBerrys, in fact. That's a far cry from RIM's plummeting US market share.

Apple is stronger in the American market with a 42 per cent share, up a whopping 10 per cent on last year.
In the US, Android has 47.6 per cent of the market, down from 54.2 per cent a year ago. Although Android's growth is slower, it's still selling more phones than last year because the total number of phones is increasing.

About the author

Rich Trenholm is a senior editor at CNET where he covers everything from phones to bionic implants. Based in London since 2007, he has travelled the world seeking out the latest and best consumer technology for your enjoyment.
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